iCab Web BrowseriCab Company Almost a decade ago, the Internet was made more accessible to millions by the introduction of a new piece of software known as the "Web browser" - a small program to access the Internet and load pages in a window. Since then, the concept of "browser" has been expanded beyond the loading of Web pages, where now what were once browsers are communication suites with integrated e-mail, HTML design, streaming audio and video, instant messaging, telephony, and piles of other features. Features that most people have no use for. Especially people using the Internet at work or school to do research and find information instead of just to be entertained. There is still a Web portion to the browser, of course, but the standards war that broke out in the mid-1990's between Microsoft and Netscape split the so-called standards into several different camps that are not entirely compatible. Moving beyond the kludge of Netscape and Microsoft, we can return to the basics of Web browsing again: a small program to access the Internet and load pages and images in a window without the bloat that has invaded more popular browsers. That's where iCab comes in. This 3.6MB program downloads in minutes, pulls up pages blindingly fast, and has plenty of customization options that help you turn it into whatever you need it to be. No annoying shop buttons, no integration with other unrelated programs, no ties to monopolistic Web portals. iCab is developed by a small German company, and the product always seems to be in beta - but these are some of the most solid betas we have ever seen. And unlike the full release, iCab betas are free - although they do expire after a set amount of time. But the iCab company releases a new version quicker than the old ones expire, so that's not really an issue anyway. We hope that the final version fixes iCab's tendency to run out of memory prematurely, but it's not really an issue unless you have a regular need to load a dozen pages at once. The level of customization in iCab puts all others to shame. The toolbar can be rearranged infinitely, and there are a lot of shells available for the button bar and interface. iCab has excellent image management, where not only can you disable image loading but you can set it to block images from certain domains - doubleclick.com, for example. Cookie management is equally comprehensive, with the ability to block all cookies or none, to expire all cookies at the end of each session, or block specific cookies from individual domains, again handy for keeping your personal information personal and out of someone's marketing database. Splintered standards are also fixed with iCab, which sticks to strong guidelines issued by the W3C. It will render non-compliant code, but the 'compliance indicator' smiley face icon will certainly show its disgust at the slop. iCab's close adhesion to standards will, however, ensure that pages created with standard code render properly. iCab also uses pure Sun-approved Java, keeping cross-platform applications cross-platform. Unfortunately, iCab itself is not yet cross-platform - it's still only for the Macintosh. But with other alternative browsers like Opera moving to multiple platforms, iCab may soon follow suit. PLUSES: Size and speed; no unnecessary features; comprehensive control of images and cookies; customization. MINUSES: Finished versions won't be free; issues with memory use in beta versions. Overall Ranking: (Four 1/2 out of Five) Download for Macintosh   PUBLISHER: iCab CompanyVERSION: Pre2.4LICENSE: Freeware (for now) MAC REQUIREMENTS: MacOS 7.0.1+; 4MB RAM; 3.6MB HD ALTERNATIVE TO: Internet Explorer / MSN Explorer OUTSIDE REVIEWS: Applelinks.com, WebMonkey ADDITIONAL INFO: Official Site, iCab Mailing List Reviewed by Paul Rickard, February 2001.

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